Slidewire power supply



P. S.- GOODWIN SLIDEWIRE POWER SUPPLY July 14, 1953 Filed Feb. 12. 19 51 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORAQ'Y July 14,-193

P. S. GOODWIN SLIDE'WIRE POWER SUPPLY Filed Feb. `12, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 RN m m m m v m m M P .umm son o* i Iullmlrl YN) Ar TOR/ver am 'l l 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. PAUL S. GOODWIN July 1'4, 1953 P. s. GOODWIN SLIDEWIRE POWER SUPPLY med Feb. 12. 1951 Immer Patented YJuly 14, 1953 UNITED lSTATIEZS PATENT OFFICE l -SLIDEWIRE POWER `SUPPLY f Paul iS. Goodwin, Pasadena. Calif., assigner .to l Consolidated Engineering Corporation, Pasadena, Calif., a corporation of California Application February 12, 1951, Serial'No. 210,529

This invention relates to a voltage regulator circuit characterized by long term stability of approximately .01% in either high or low voltage regulated output. Long term stability as used with reference tothis type of an instruf mentary type tubes where regulation and ripple .content are critical. Another such application is in the replacement of batteries 'to power amplifier tubes where amplifier stability is critical. 'Regulation of small voltages, .as for example, 8.0 volts or below, is extremely difficult particularly where a negative output voltage is sought. The voltage regulator kcircuit of the present invention is adapted to this use and supplies a voltage as low as 30 volts or less, of either positive or negative polarity and of the above specified stability.

The 4instant voltage regulator was specifically `developed to solve a problem in mass .spectrometry,-and although in no Way limited .to this .application Athe invention is conveniently described with relation thereto.

In the analysis of mixtures by inspection o -f their mass spectra, i. e. mass spectrometry, `it is necessary that the spectra of a given sample be both reproducible and constant within itself vand yet different from the spectra of other samples. To enable accurate quantitative analysis of the components of a sample, the spectra of the components must not only be qualitatively corre-ot but must appear in the proper magnitude `relationship. This latter requirement dictates rigid performance specifications upon ,many portions of the mass spectrometer.` Among the elements of the mass spectrometer subject to such rigid requirements is the amplification system in which the ion discharge signals are amplified and recorded. As an example of an amplification system specifically adapted to such use, reference is had kto lmy cao-pending application Serial No. 82,337, filed March 19, 1949.

The instrument described in this co-pending application is essentially a null balancing network in which the tapped-olf portion of the total voltage across a slidewre potentiometer is balanced against the input of the amplier. In the particular instrument described, the voltage across the slidewire may be changed in increments to vary the sensitivity of the recording amplifier and preferably in response to an an- 10 Claims. (Cieza-.22)

ticipation Signal proportional to the intensity of .the succeeding ion beam. The stability of this ampli-fier is thus dependent upon the stability of the slidewire nowor supply as well as to other factors not of any sisniioarloe in this application. I have found that a :battery .is unsatisfactory as a 4source of voltage for the slidewire since the natural voltage .drop .of the battery when Sublooted to its :Failed Current drain is sunicient to cause drift in the amplification system in excess .of maximum tolerance.

The regulated voltage required for this slidewir-.e supply in the .described Circumstances iS minus A30 volts with r`a long term stability of 0.1 To achieve v'this stability it is essential that the bavsi power supply .design be Capable 0f much greater stability, sayv of about 0.01 to allow sufficient .margin Y,for production Ldesign and tosting contingencies. Regulated power supplies of various .design have ybeen extensively used in the art. Each of the present known techniques was tried in this particular problem and without success. The failure of the conventional regulators is attributable to the practical limita- :tions of 'vacuum tubes -when operated at the very low potenti-als `here involved and the severity of the imposed stability requirement.

The basic elements of substantially all voltage regulator circuits are an unregulated power supply, a serially vcorinocllod control tube or voltage `dropping tube, a voltage divider network connected across the output leads, an amplifier connected to receive a voltage signal from the volt- .aso divider together with a voltage from a voltage reference .and to amplify the algebraic sum of these signals, and Ato feed this amplied difference to the control tube by means of which the regulated output voltage is determined.

Stability in the region of 0.01% in a 30 volt supply requires that variations in the voltage reference and the input ,circuit to the regulator 4amplifier should .be less than 3u volts over the l period sneoiod as long term. Suoh Stability in contact type demodulator connected between the` output of the amplifier and the grid of the voltage regulator tube to feed to the voltage regulator tube a D. C. type signal proportional to the amplified A. C. error signal.

The use of an A. C. amplifier in accordance with the invention accomplishes two Aimportant features. The amplifier does not contribute any drift and hence has no effect on the stability of the regulator. Moreover, the amplifier may be powered from an auxiliary unregulated B+ supply and thereby have sufficient voltage upon the tubes to operate in a normal manner. Since the stages of amplification do not have to be staircased across the available B+ supply with an A. C. amplifier, many more amplifying stages can be employed for the same supply voltage. For this reason a Very high gain amplifier can be achieved, which is one of the requirements for high stability in the regulator.

Another feature of the circuit of the invention is that the Voltage reference is used under noload conditions and hence a battery or standard cell used for this purpose will maintain its true potential for very long periods of time. Because of this feature a very stable reference is thereby achieved.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a schematic diagram of a conventional or basic voltage regulator circuit;

Fig. 2 is a similar schematic diagram of the improved circuit of the invention illustrating the basic differences between this circuit and the conventional circuit of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a detailed wiring diagram of one form of the circuit of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed wiring diagram showing an alternative embodiment of the circuit of Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. l, substantially all voltage regulator circuits, including the circuit of the present invention, fall into a pattern illustrated by this ligure. The circuit there shown includes an unregulated power supply IG, a voltage control tube I2 connected serially in the positive output lead of the power supply I0, the regulated voltage appearing across the positive and negative leads I3, I4, respectively. A voltage divider I5 is connected across the output leads I3, I4 and is tapped to apply a voltage to an amplifier I6, this voltage being a predetermined fraction of the regulated output voltage. A voltage reference I8 is connected to the amplifier and is balanced against the tapped voltage so that the error signal, i. e. the algebraic sum of the reference voltage and the signal voltage, is amplified and a proportionate signal is fed to the grid of control tube I2 to regulate the voltage. drop across the control tube.

In the conventional regulator circuits, the amplier I6 is a D. C. amplier and to achieve the necessary gain must include several staircased stages. Such amplification is suitable only for high regulated output voltages and may be adapted to regulation of low output voltages only by the use of bucking batteries connected between the amplication stages. Such batteries, however, are bulky, unreliable and expensive and a voltage regulator circuit employing D. C. amplification and requiring bucking batteries to permit a low output voltage is not a reasonable solution to the problem.

Fig. 2 shows the system of the present invention schematically and, like the basic circuit shown inFig. 1, includes the unregulated power supply 2G, a voltage control or voltage dropping tube 22, avoltage divider 24 connected across positive and negative output leads 25, 26, respectively. To this extent the circuit of Fig. 2 is identical with that of Fig. l. In this instance, and unlike the circuit illustrated in Fig. 1, the voltage signal tapped off of divider 24 is fed to a contact type modulator 28 together with a voltage from a voltage reference 29, in this instance a battery. The contact type modulator 28 isa chopper-transformer combination of conventional construction. 'I'he stability of the modulator is 2p volts, obviously better than the required stability of the instrument. For convenience the carrier frequency, as determined by the rate of chopping of the contact type modulator, is selected as 60 C. P. S. line frequency.

The output of the modulator 28 is fed to a capacity coupled A; C. amplifier 3D. Since the chopping rate of the modulator 28 is 60 C. P. S., this means that the amplifier 3U is actually amplifying a G0 cycle carrier and its associated side bands, the signal received by the amplifier being a 60 cycle signal of the magnitude determined by the algebraic sum of the reference voltage supplied from source 29 and the error signal tapped from thevoltage divider 24. The phase of the 60 cycle signal in the amplifier is determined bythe chopper.

The series dropping tube 22 between the unregulated output must be supplied with a D. C. signal at its grid. The output of the A. C. amplifier 30 is therefore demodulated in a phasesensitive, contact type demodulator 32 to convert it back to D. C. The demodulator 32 is synchronized with the modulator 28 at a 60 C. P. S. rate. Thus any signal picked up and amplified in the amplifier 30 of a frequency other than 60 C. P. S. or out-of-phase 60 C. P. S. stray signal will not be of proper frequency or phase to pass through the demodulator, and hence will not appear at the grid of the regulator tube. For this reason low frequency tube characteristic changes or high frequency noise will not appear in the output, and hence the amplifier is stable with respect to these effects.'

A divider 34 is connected between the output leads 25, 26 and to the demodulator 32 to establish static bias on the grid of the dropping tube 22. rhis bias voltage is quiescent on the control tube to establish the desired stable output condition. The operating point of the tube would otherwise be determined by a voltage designated as plus or minus AE, which is equal to the bias voltage divided by the gain of the ampliner and is again of quiescent voltage value. The regulation is determined by a voltage designated as plus or minus AES which represents the changes in the output caused by unwarranted phenomenon and the changes toy be regulated out by action of the regulator. These various voltage signals are indicated symbolically on the drawing of Fig. `2 to further-clarify the significance lof the "Referring to Fig. 93,7t'he lcircuitof Fig. 2 is shown in greater detail includingane-unregulated source (line voltage) connected.v across terminals 3'5, 3l', a control tube or voltage droppingtube 38,*positive and negative output leads designated respectively as 39, 40, a voltage divider `42 -con'- nected across the output leads,` a contact type modulator 44, an A. C. amplifier 4B anda contact type demodulator 48. Because the circuit for use in the particular circumstances Amentioned above requires a negative output voltage, thepos'itive output lead 39 is grounded. However, this is not a limiting featurefof the invention.

The contact type modulator includes aichopper 44A driven yby a `coil 44B `and'oonnected through a transformer 44C tothe input yof the amplifier 46. A' voltage reference 'source 50, .in this instance a battery, is connected through a relay 52 to the positive buss 39 at its vpositive side and to the contact arm of the chopperMA through its negative side. Tap 42A of the voltage divider is connected to the midpoint of the Apri mary of transformer 44C so that theA. C. signal applied across the transformer from the chopper 44A is buoked by the voltage Iderived'from the divider 42. The res-ultant signal -applied 'to .the grid of the drst stage amplification lin amplifier 4S is a modulated signal of a vfrequency determined by the driving frequency ofY thechopper 44A and the amplitude of which 'is proportional to the algebraic sumof the voltage derived from the dividerllz and the reference voltage source 50.

The demodulator 48 likewise includes -a chopper 48A, a drive coil 48B, and an "input transformer 48C. The drive coils 44B, I48B of the modulator and demodulator, respectively, are connected to the same source' of A. C. power, and are thus synchronized so that the output signal from the modulator'l48 is a replica Aof the input vsignal to the demodulator times the gain of the amplifier 46. The output vof amplifier y413 is a negative voltage which applies both bias and error signal to the control grid of the dropping tube38. The network including -several capacitors and resistor-s connected between the con tact arm of thel chopper 48A and the control grid of the tube 38 comprises a conventional filter.

In the lparticular circuit shown in Fig. 3, the unregulated line voltage is applied across three transformers B0, 6I, 62. is connected to Voperate the relay 52 controlling the voltage reference `5l). The transformer 6I is connected through a rectifier 64 to the plate The transformer 6l)` of the dropping tube 3B, andthe transformer 62 is connected to power the lchopper driving coils 44B and 413B and to supply voltage to thefi-la ments of the .amplifier tube. ,l

The D. C. stability of the regulator is established at the required level by .insuring a sulciently high gain Vin the amplifier 46 andalso that the stability of the input circuit in absolute values is at least as good, if notfbetter, than the required stability of the output. In addition to the D. C. stability of the regulator, it becomes important to consider its A. C. stability in View of the carrier frequency fed through the amplifier 46. The band width of this amplifier (input to output) is from zero frequency (D. C.) to about 10% of the carrier frequency, which is six cycles per second. It is necessary to reduce or eliminate cycle ripple output from the regulator, as the above described mass spectrometer amplication'system is also a carrier system at this frequency Jand any ripple in lthe regulator outputl would very likely addl spurious signals to the am-v pliiication system. Y 'A Ripple reduction can be achieved in two ways in accordance with the invention, one of which is exemplified in Fig. 3 and another vin Fig. V4i. In thecircuit Aof Fig. 3 the ripple is removed by the expedient of a capacitor 66 connected across the output busses` 39,140. f Y

An alternative means of accomplishing this function -is illustrated in Fig; 4, which shows an alternative lembodiment of the circuit of Fig. -3 with vcoi-respending parts being similarly identified.A IIn the circuit of Fig. 4 an auxiliary A. C. amplifier 1D is connected in parallel with the regulating amplifier 46. The function of the auxiliary amplifier 113 is to increase the effective gain of the amplifying portion of the regulator in the regionabove 6 C. l?. `S. and `below some arbitrary upper lim-it, say 6,006 C. P. S. The increase in gain in this reg-ion causes -60 and v120 C. P. S. ripple to )be suppressed in the output by direct regulator action.

When tivo such amplifiers are used in parallel, it is necessary to adjust their overlapping frequency characteristics so as to minimize the phase shift :at the `crossover point, which in this instance is somewhere between -6 and 60 C. P. S. Unless the phase shift is so limited, oscillation or verypoor regu-lation willoccur at the crossover frequency. In the circuit `of Fig. 4 the crossover networks of `both amplifiers comprise R-C filters in the input land output circuit of the vrespective amplifiers. Thus amplifier 46 is provided with input and output filters l2, T3, respectively, and amplifier lil is provided with input and output filters l, Tl, respectively. The illustrated arrangement represents a conventional crossover network and may be replaced'by any of a -large number of known networks of this type.

The invention has been described herein with particular reference to its application asa regulated power supply for slide-wire potentiometers in recording and anticipator amplifiers of a vmass spectrometer. The regulator circuit, however, hasj-many potential uses other than that specifically described. The disclosed design is the only known design for producing a regulated power of such low rated value voutput and particularly a negative outputvoltage, and will therefore Yhave widespread application, some of which applications have been mentioned in the preliminary portions of this specification. Although the major importance of the described regulator is in the low voltage region ofregulated supplies, itis equally adapted to regulating higher voltages and Awill be indicated for such use where high stability is important.

l claim:

'1. In 'a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected seri-ally to an unregulated source of D. C. voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising an A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the amplifier input, a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said voltage divider, and a contact type demodulator connected between the output of said amplifier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube.

2. In a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising an A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the amplifier input, a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said voltage divider, a contact type demodulator connected between the output of Said amplifier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube, and means driving the modulator and demodulator synchronously.

3. In a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising an A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the amplier inputy a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the Voltage tapped from said voltage divider, a phase-sensitive contact type demodulator connected between the output of said amplifier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube, and means driving the modulator and demodulator synchronously.

4. In a Voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising an A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the amplier input, a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said voltage divider, a phase-sensitive contact type demodulatoi1 connected between the output of said ampliier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube, and means for removing undesired A. C. components from the regulated output.

5. A voltage regulator circuit according to claim 4 wherein said means for removing undesired A. C. components from the regulated output comprises a capacitor connected across the output.

6. In a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising a rst A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the input to said first amplifier, a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said Voltage divider, a phase-sensitive contact type demodulator connected between the output of said rst amplifier and the grid of said voltage regu- 8` lator tube, and a second A. C. amplifier c'oiinected in parallel with the first amplier and having a frequency response higher than that of the rst amplifier.

7. In a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. Voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising a first A. C. amplifier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the input of said iirst amplifiery a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said voltage divider, a phase-sensitive contact type demodulatoi' connected between the output of said first amplier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube, a second A. C. amplifier connected in parallel with the iirst amplifier and having a frequency response higher than that of the rst amplifier, and means for adjusting the overlapping frequency characteristics of the two amplifiers.

8. A voltage regulator circuit according to claim "I wherein said means for adjusting the overlapping frequency characteristics of the two amplifiers comprises a separate crossover network associated with each amplifier.

9. A voltage regulator circuit according to claim 8 wherein each of said separate crossover networks comprises a separate R-C filter con nected in the input and output of the respective amplifiers.

l0. In a voltage regulator circuit including a voltage regulating tube adapted to be connected serially to an unregulated source of D. C. Voltage and a voltage divider connected across the low voltage side of the regulator tube and the negative side of the unregulated source, the combination comprising an A. C. amplier, a contact type modulator connected between said voltage divider and the amplifier input, a reference voltage source connected to said modulator to buck the voltage tapped from said voltage divider, the connection of the reference source and the voltage divider to said modulator being such that no load is placed on said reference source, and a phase-sensitive contact type demodulator connected between the output of said amplifier and the grid of said voltage regulator tube.

PAUL S. GOODWIN.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,436,720 Jones Feb. 24, 1948 2,442,300 Liston May 25, 1948 OTHER REFERENCES Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 19, No. 4, April 1948, An Inductively Coupled Series Tube D. C. I-Iigh Voltage Regulator. 

